1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, a preview control method, and a storage medium that stores a program for implementing the method, and more particularly to an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, and a preview control method which can be suitably applied to broadcast communication in which the same data is transmitted to a plurality of destinations by the information processing apparatus, attachment of cover sheets to original data, and edition of original data and cover sheets in a system comprised of the information processing apparatus such as a personal computer and an image processing apparatus having a facsimile communicating function, and a storage medium that stores a program for implementing the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, information processing apparatuses are known which have a preview function of displaying transmission data to be printed by a printing apparatus on a display so that a user can review the data before transmission thereof. The transmission data is usually previewed as one-copy data irrespective of the number of prints produced from one page. The reason why the transmission data is previewed as one-copy data is that the same printing process as in one-copy printing in which the same page is printed in one copy is merely repeated in multiple-copy printing in which one page is printed in a plurality of copies so that confirmation of date for one copy suffices. Another reason is that preview of the transmission data as one-copy data prevents a user from being confused by a change in the number of previewed pages according to the number of prints.
The above prior art, however, has a problem as described below. A cover sheet is usually attached to transmission data in the case where data supplied from an information processing apparatus to an apparatus having a data transmitting function is transmitted to a destination via a communication medium. The prior art has a problem encountered when a cover sheet is thus attached to transmission data. Namely, when the same data is transmitted by broadcast communication, i.e. transmitted to a plurality of destinations, there is a case that the same original data are transmitted to destinations while different cover sheets are attached to the original data according to the destinations.
The case that different cover sheets according to destinations are transmitted includes, for example, a case where destination names are put on the cover sheets. In this case, the same data is not repeatedly transmitted to the destinations, but different cover sheets are attached to the data according to the destinations. That is, different data are transmitted to the respective destinations by adding cover sheet data to transmission data. The prior art cannot deal with this case, and only transmission data is previewed irrespective of the contents of cover sheets as is the case with multiple-page printing, and therefore, the entire data comprised of transmission data and cover sheets cannot be reviewed before transmission thereof.